Nuclear halo and the coherent nuclear interaction

The unusual structure of Li11, the first halo nucleus found, is analyzed by the Preparata model of nuclear structure. By applying Coherent Nucleus Theory, we obtain an interaction potential for the halo-neutrons that rightly reproduces the fundamental state of the system.Comment: 9 pages Submitted to International Journal of Modern Physics E (IJMPE

The Pomeron in QCD

In the framework of Anisotropic Chromodynamics, a non-perturbative realization of QCD, we develop the Low-Nussinov picture of the Pomeron. In this approach all the usual problems of low pT perturbative calculations (infrared divergence) are naturally absent. Thus, we are able to perform an ab initio calculation of the hadron-hadron total cross section. The result is a cross section of the same magnitude as indicated experimentally and approximately energy-independent (with a log^2 s growth). We further discuss the pT dependence of the hadron-hadron elastic-scattering cross section, which displays all the experimentally observed features.Comment: 8 pages (LaTeX, plus 4 postscript figures in a separate file), report number MITH 94/13 *** Replaced figures file with uuencoded, compressed, tarred version **

On the Ground State of Quantum Gravity

In order to gain insight into the possible Ground State of Quantized Einstein's Gravity, we have devised a variational calculation of the energy of the quantum gravitational field in an open space, as measured by an asymptotic observer living in an asymptotically flat space-time. We find that for Quantum Gravity (QG) it is energetically favourable to perform its quantum fluctuations not upon flat space-time but around a ``gas'' of wormholes, whose size is the Planck length $a_p$ ($a_p\simeq 10^{-33}$cm). As a result, assuming such configuration to be a good approximation to the true Ground State of Quantum Gravity, space-time, the arena of physical reality, turns out to be well described by Wheeler's Quantum Foam and adequately modeled by a space-time lattice with lattice constant $a_p$, the Planck lattice.Comment: 10 pages, LaTex, the version to appear in Physics Letters

Gas of wormholes: a possible ground state of Quantum Gravity

In order to gain insight into the possible Ground State of Quantized Einstein's Gravity, we have derived a variational calculation of the energy of the quantum gravitational field in an open space, as measured by an asymptotic observer living in an asymptotically flat space-time. We find that for Quantum Gravity (QG) it is energetically favourable to perform its quantum fluctuations not upon flat space-time but around a ``gas'' of wormholes of mass m_p, the Planck mass (m_p ~= 10^{19}GeV) and average distance l_p, the Planck length a_p(a_p ~= 10^{-33}cm). As a result, assuming such configuration to be a good approximation to the true Ground State of Quantum Gravity, space-time, the arena of physical reality, turns out to be well described by Wheeler's quantum foam and adequately modeled by a space-time lattice with lattice constant l_p, the Planck lattice.Comment: 56 pages, revised version to appear in General Relativity and Gravitation (2000